Warlords are distinguished from other Warriors by their gold icons, contrasting the silver icons of regular Warriors. Furthermore, they have unique character designs, depicted in several sprites showing different emotions, unlike regular Warriors who have shared character designs depicted in only a single sprite. In addition, each Warlord has a story of their own.

Warlords are noted for their capability of transforming, somewhat similar to how Pokémon are capable of evolving. Transforming makes a Warlord ascend from Rank I to Rank II (there is also a Rank III for the Hero/Heroine and Hideyoshi), changing their appearance, stats, Perfect Link, and Warrior Skill. While Warlords generally have high stats, it is these unique Warrior Skills acquired through transformation that mostly set them apart from regular Warriors in terms of battling prowess. The requirements for transformation vary from Warlord to Warlord, and are presented in the table below.

In order to recruit a Warlord, the regular requirements for recruitment must be fulfilled by another Warlord. This means that it is imperative, but not sufficient, that the Warlord's Pokémon is knocked out by another Warlord's Pokémon.

The term Warlord is also used to refer to the single Warlord commanding an army, or the 17 actual, story-independent, Warlords of the 17 kingdoms of Ransei. A related term is "junior Warlord", referring to a Warlord whose relationship with the Warlord they story-independently serve under is present in the game, and is chosen by their lord or lady to command an army in the junior Warlord stories.